"Nets assistant Brian Hill, can talk with the Pistons about joining coach John Kuester's staff.

"Brian is a very good coach, and he's done a good job for us," said Nets team president Rod Thorn, who acknowledged he granted the Pistons permission yesterday to speak with Hill about the lead assistant's job under Kuester."

"After four games of summer-league play this week, it is apparent he's talented -- but has a lot of work to do.

He also displayed many skills that make one believe he can be an impact player. Pistons officials are encouraged by his early performances, including a 27-point, 13-rebound effort in Wednesday's win over the Knicks.

"He's playing like a young, developing and talented small forward," Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said this week. "He shows you some of the things that you're intrigued about.

"He shows you a super fundamentally sound game. He shows you the shooting stroke. He shows you the high basketball IQ. He's shown in the first couple of games all the things you like about him."

"LAS VEGAS -- Wherever Detroit Pistons forward DaJuan Summers has been, doubts about his game haven't been too far behind.Turnover-prone. No mid-range jumper. Poor ball-handler. Not productive enough. His game has been sliced and diced apart for as long as he can remember.

But the 6-foot-8 forward quietly has gone about silencing his critics with a strong showing for Detroit's summer league team, which included a 26-point effort in Detroit's 96-73 summer league win against the New York Knicks on Wednesday.

The Knicks, led by the 3-point shooting of Nikoloz Tskitishvili (12 points, 4-for-8 from 3-point range), hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter. Summers responded with a driving left-handed layup, and followed that with a 3-pointer that pushed Detroit's lead to 64-51."DaJuan has been what we thought he was, and even more," said Joe Dumars, Detroit's president of basketball operations."

"LAS VEGAS -- When Austin Daye had a big man on him, he attacked him off the dribble. When guarded by someone smaller, Daye used his 6-foot-10 frame to be effective in the post.

The Detroit Pistons rookie scored a game-high 27 points in a 96-73 win against the New York Knicks, the kind of performance that gives the Pistons hope that his lithe frame won't be a major issue this season."

"He's also convinced the NBA game will show off his talents better than he could at Gonzaga. It's not that he was held back, it's more a product of simply working in a different system.

"At Gonzaga I was asked to do different things and I was fully on board with those things, and here I'm being asked to play a little bit more," explained Daye. "I think my game is more of an NBA game than college because of my length, my athleticism, and my shooting ability."

Daye is showing that in Vegas, averaging 16.3 points and 8.5 rebounds in Detroit's first four games (Summers leads the team with 19.5 points). He's also stoked to play with Summers, whom he has known for awhile.

"At James' Skills Academy we played with each other and in camps before that," Daye said about how long he has known Summers. "He's a great player – I'm just happy for him to be my sidekick."

"The biggest hurdle in Lebron James joining the Detroit Pistons would be the betrayal felt by the good people of Cleveland in their prodigal son leaving to play for one of their most hated rivals. But for a quarter of a billion dollars, I think Lebron could live with himself. And eleven giant solid-gold robots."

"I can’t begin to count how many Mailbag queries I fielded this year from Pistons.com readers all across the world that asked if I thought Iverson was better than LeBron or Kobe, or if I thought he was among the NBA’s top five players or merely among the top 10. I assumed these were serious questions, though I wondered if somewhere in cyberspace there wasn’t a Facebook initiative imploring all members to bombard Pistons.com with questions about Iverson’s place in the NBA hierarchy to see if I’d bite.

There were nights Iverson wasn’t one of the top 10 players in that game, never mind “the” game, but there was no payoff in underscoring the point. Yet his fans insisted that the only thing holding him back was the Pistons. Somehow, they were convinced Iverson’s teammates didn’t want to see him succeed, or the coaching staff was shunning him because they were angry Chauncey Billups had been traded, or some such nonsense. As if it was Rip Hamilton or Michael Curry’s fault that Iverson couldn’t get inside the defense at will anymore, or couldn’t finish when he did. There’s no sin in an aging player losing the skill that made him special."

"Though the Celticshave not made an offer to Glen Davis, the restricted free agent and his team may be drifting closer together thanks to NBA’s strapped economy.

Though Davis is still hopeful of landing a mid-level-sized deal - one that starts at $5.8 million - the field is limited.Detroit, a team with clear interest, has $3.2 million to offer, and is reportedly hesitant to send Davis an offer sheet with the knowledge that the Celtics will gladly match that amount.

The Pistons, rather than have their cash placed in limbo by the seven-day period the Celtics would have to match the offer, are instead pursuing other options."

"You have to love a player who's useful at any spot on the court. Austin Daye is that guy for Detroit.

DaJuan Summers was the butter and egg man down low for the Pistons. I can't quite figure out whether to classify him as a small or power forward. IMG's Mike Moreau referred to him as a "Power 3." Whatever he is, Summers continued to leverage his ability to face up for opportunities to get inside."

"The essentials of a possible deal would include Miami sending forward Udonis Haslem(notes) and Dorell Wright to Utah. Because Memphis is under the cap, Utah could move Wright’s $2.8 million salary to the Grizzlies and save itself approximately $5.6 million with salary and luxury-tax payments. Memphis would probably get cash and picks for its trouble. The Heat would have to send one more small contract to make the math on the salary exchange work.

Miami could pay Boozer his $12.7 million salary this season and own his Bird rights to sign him to an extension next summer.

The deal isn’t considered imminent, but the Jazz are working hard to find a suitable trade for Boozer. Utah is determined to match the Portland Trail Blazers’ $32 million offer sheet for restricted free agent Paul Millsap(notes). Utah has until the end of the week to match or lose the young power forward to the Blazers. Most league executives believe that Utah will match the offer, regardless of whether they’ve moved Boozer.

Portland is still trying to pry Tayshaun Prince(notes) out of Detroit in a three-way deal with Utah, but Pistons president Joe Dumars hasn’t shown an inclination to move Prince and extend Boozer’s contract, league sources say.

Several league executives are dubious of Boozer as a $14 million-a-year player, which his agent, Rob Pelinka, has told teams it will take to sign him to an extension. Miami could be the suitor willing to pay it."

"Though Davis is still hopeful of landing a mid-level-sized deal - one that starts at $5.8 million - the field is limited.

Detroit, a team with clear interest, has $3.2 million to offer, and is reportedly hesitant to send Davis an offer sheet with the knowledge that the Celtics will gladly match that amount. The Pistons, rather than have their cash placed in limbo by the seven-day period the Celtics would have to match the offer, are instead pursuing other options."

They traded his pal Chauncey Billups, and Rip was too busy pouting and mourning that he didn’t see the opportunity before him.

Even with Allen Iverson in tow, the Pistons could have been Hamilton’s team. Rip was the most consistent scorer, the hardest worker, and he had himself a nice little love affair with the fans.

In Detroit, the sports fans appreciate the hard workers, the blue collar guys. Players who approach their game the way the fans approach their lives.

Hamilton, even though he lost his starting role briefly to Iverson due to the emergence of Stuckey at point guard, nonetheless could have been Mr. Piston with Mr. Big Shot traded away to Denver.

It wouldn’t have mattered if Rip was a bench player. If he had the right attitude, he could have been team captain material and the fans would have continued to embrace him—maybe even more so with the popular Billups gone."

"Portland is one of the many teams that Detroit has had talks with in recent weeks. I talked with Dumars yesterday, and he indicated that there are no deals on the table right now.

He added that could change, but didn't anticipate anything shaking down anytime soon. Any trade Detroit does now, would have to bring back a big man. Otherwise, it wouldn't really make a lot of sense.

And despite all the reports you've read, Detroit isn't actively pursuing a deal for Boozer. They're monitoring the situation, obviously. But if they were truly interested in getting something done, they could have pulled the trigger on a deal by now."